Chapter 9: Two Meals
The day after Yul Han returned, hundreds of carts loaded with rice were leaving the Bright Cult in the Heavenly Mountains.
Unlike Yul Han, who watched the scene with a satisfied expression from atop the Bright Cult’s main gate halfway up the Heavenly Mountains, the Bright Cult’s leadership was locked in a heated debate inside the council hall.
The discussion had accelerated rapidly because, when the opinion was raised that rather than letting everyone go hungry for even one meal, they should shake down the Hundred Paths after a long while, the Strategist unexpectedly did not oppose it.
“Let’s hit Kunlun for now. It’s practically our front yard since it’s in Qinghai, so it’s close and easy to mobilize our people. And if the Hundred Paths rabble come swarming in under the pretense of support, it’s easy to pull out. There’s no better place to plunder.”
At the words of Iron Demon, the Chief Elder, the Cult Leader asked,
“You’re sure they’ve got plenty of rice?”
“Even if it doesn’t look like much to us, Kunlun is, along with Wudang, one of the two great Taoist holy lands of the Central Plains, isn’t it? I’ve heard that several hundred seok of rice are donated every single day.”
At Iron Demon’s answer, the Cult Leader nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Good. Then we hit Kunlun. How many men should we mobilize, and from where?”
No sooner had the Cult Leader finished speaking than the Lord of the Ten Thousand Swords stepped forward.
“Leave it to me. I’ll lead the Ten Thousand Swords Unit and rip them out by the roots.”
“If you deploy ten thousand men, it’ll immediately turn into a full-scale war with the Hundred Paths. Leave it to me. I’ll take the Red Blade Unit, a thousand strong, clean things up, load it all, and bring it back.”
The Lord of the Ten Thousand Swords shot an irritated glare at the Red Blade Unit Commander who had cut in. It looked as though he was trying to steal away an opportunity for him to savor bloodshed at length.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
The elders each stepped forward in turn, insisting that they would take their own subordinates and finish the job decisively.
For fifteen years since the Vice Cult Leader’s activities had diminished, the Bright Cult had seen no truly major battles. Moreover, in the five years since the Vice Cult Leader had gone into complete seclusion, there had not been a single proper fight.
That meant that the Bright Cult’s warriors—who devoted every moment of the twelve double-hours in a day to martial training, aside from sleeping and relieving themselves—had not experienced even one real battle during all that time.
The resulting pent-up frustration had accumulated throughout the Bright Cult far beyond its limits.
And it wasn’t just the ordinary warriors. The leadership, elders included, were the same.
That was why everyone was making such a ruckus, each trying to seize this long-awaited chance to see real bloodshed. In doing so, they failed to notice—
That the Vice Cult Leader had already entered and was listening to everything.
The Strategist, discovering this too late, shouted loudly.
“O-Oh! You’ve arrived, Vice Cult Leader!”
An instant silence descended over the council hall.
“Why are you planning to go to Kunlun?”
At Yul Han’s quietly sunken question, the Cult Leader, unable to answer at once, nudged someone at his side, forcing the Strategist to step forward.
“We, w-we’re planning to obtain rice.”
“Rice…? Is it that scarce because of this recent expenditure?”
“Well, th-that is… yes. We didn’t have much stored to begin with…”
As the Strategist answered while gauging the Vice Cult Leader’s reaction, Yul Han’s eyes darkened.
“I apologize. I went out to help others without even knowing the situation within the cult… This is entirely my fault.”
At the Vice Cult Leader’s act of lowering his head, cold sweat ran down the back of the Strategist’s neck.
It was because he feared that, following such uncharacteristic behavior, a blade might suddenly come flying, just as it once had toward Elder Seomyeolgui in the past.
It hadn’t been to the same extent as Seomyeolgui’s case, but the Strategist had borne some responsibility in that incident fifteen years ago.
In fact, when viewed that way, none of the leaders gathered here were free from responsibility for what had happened back then.
That might well have been the true reason the leadership feared the Vice Cult Leader.
In any case, the Strategist had no intention of facing such a terrifying Vice Cult Leader alone.
That was why he subtly attempted to pass the burden to the Cult Leader. No matter how reckless the Vice Cult Leader was, he tended to keep a certain line when it came to the Cult Leader.
“N-No, not at all. Helping each other is how the world works, isn’t it? I mean, isn’t that right, Cult Leader?”
Dragged in by the Strategist’s covert prompting, the Cult Leader could only nod with a flustered expression.
“Y-Yes. Of course.”
To the Cult Leader like that, Yul Han spoke.
“If you say so, then I can only feel even more apologetic. In that case, I will take charge of the matter at Kunlun.”
At that moment, the Cult Leader’s face stiffened, but only briefly. Hanging a forced smile on his face, he asked,
“Must you…?”
“I ask you to allow it. Since this happened because of me, I will take responsibility.”
At the Vice Cult Leader’s firm voice, the Cult Leader pondered briefly before finally nodding.
“Do so.”
At the Cult Leader’s permission, Yul Han bowed his head.
“Thank you, Cult Leader. Then I will leave immediately.”
After the Vice Cult Leader departed, leaving those words behind, the Cult Leader’s voice rang out in the council hall, where a brief silence had settled.
“Gather the men at once!”
“Why the men…?”
When Iron Demon, the Chief Elder, asked in confusion, the Cult Leader replied,
“The Vice Cult Leader has gone to Kunlun. What do you think he’s going to do?”
“Well, he’ll probably lop off a few heads and demand they hand over the rice—”
“Then how do you think Kunlun will respond?”
“They’ll gather their forces, respond, and send a request for aid to the Martial Alliance—”
Only then did Iron Demon grasp the meaning of the Cult Leader’s words. He lowered his head and withdrew, and the Cult Leader’s gaze shifted to the Training Hall Master.
“If the Vice Cult Leader’s hand is too heavy and he drives Kunlun to the brink of annihilation like the previous sect, the Hundred Paths bastards won’t miss their timing to counterattack this time just because they’re flustered like they were back then.”
“Understood. We will halt training, have everyone fully armed, and order them to assemble at the main cult.”
The Cult Leader looked at the Strategist after hearing the Training Hall Master’s reply.
“Draw up an operation.”
“To what extent?”
“That will depend on how far the Vice Cult Leader intends to go. Make full preparations so that, if necessary, we can completely wipe out the Hundred Paths.”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
Despite the fact that they were talking about a massive, blood-soaked battle, the faces of the Cult Leader and the Bright Cult’s leadership were instead brimming with vitality.
It had truly been far too long since their last fight.
Cold Blade Blood and Flashing Light Blood, who had been resting after returning from the Ghost Lotus Sect, were summoned again.
This time, however, it was not the Cult Leader issuing the order as before—it was the Vice Cult Leader who had called for them.
By the Bright Cult’s original system, any combat force ranked at Twenty-Seven Ghosts or higher could only move by the Cult Leader’s command.
But within the Bright Cult, there was no one who could refuse a summons from the Vice Cult Leader.
Even without invoking the phrase ‘might makes right,’ the very symbol of the Demonic Path, no one in the world could refuse the command of the world’s strongest individual.
And so, Cold Blade Blood and Flashing Light Blood responded the moment they received the Vice Cult Leader’s call.
As a result, not even a full day after returning, the two of them once again had to escort the Vice Cult Leader, driving a carriage as they departed from the Heavenly Mountains.
“Which direction shall we set our course?”
At the question from Cold Blade Blood, who was serving as the guide, I opened the carriage window, looked out at the scenery, and answered.
“Let’s go to Kunlun.”
In that instant, the gazes Cold Blade Blood and Flashing Light Blood exchanged stiffened. Naturally so—Kunlun was one of the Nine Sects, the very core of the Hundred Paths.
The Demonic Path and the Hundred Paths, who only felt satisfied once blood was spilled whenever they met. And among them, the Bright Cult and the Nine Sects were no different from mortal enemies.
For nearly a thousand years, they had slaughtered each other’s families and brothers countless times, forging a hatred so deep it could never be washed away.
Among them all, the relationship between the Bright Cult and Kunlun was the worst.
Because of Kunlun’s geographical position, deeply entrenched in southern Qinghai—called the land of the Demonic Path—it was always the first to be attacked whenever the Bright Cult provoked the Hundred Paths of the Central Plains.
It had gone so far that the number of times Kunlun had been pushed to the brink of sect-wide annihilation by the Bright Cult exceeded what one could count on ten fingers.
The smaller-scale plunderings were so numerous they could not even be counted.
To rise again after enduring such damage, Kunlun always poured in blood-soaked effort. Naturally, they ground their teeth to dust in hatred toward the Bright Cult that had done this to them.
And yet, I had just said we were going to that very Kunlun.
“Why… are we going there?”
To Cold Blade Blood’s cautious question, I replied calmly.
“They say rice is lacking. And I didn’t even know that… Did either of you know?”
“Well, th-that is…”
Unable to bring himself to say, ‘You knew too!’ Cold Blade Blood trailed off, and I spoke to him.
“Next time, if I’m about to make a mistake like that, I would appreciate it if you told me in advance. Please.”
The word ‘please’ sounded almost like a reproach—‘Why didn’t you stop me?’
It was a word I never normally used. To the two of them, it was proof enough that my mood was severely displeased.
In the end, there was only one thing they could say.
“S-Sorry, Vice Cult Leader.”
“There’s no need for you two to apologize. It was my fault for acting without even knowing the situation. Just let me know beforehand in the future—that will be enough. I ask you again.”
When the word ‘ask’ was used yet again, Cold Blade Blood and Flashing Light Blood could only look miserable.
Because their minds were so preoccupied with that, the two of them failed to realize something—they had never received an answer to why we were going to Kunlun.
Kunlun was far farther than Yanqi, where the Ghost Lotus Sect had been. Departing from the Heavenly Mountains, we had to detour around the Tarim Basin, where the Taklamakan Desert lay, before entering Qinghai. The distance was long, and the time required even longer.
Even so, perhaps because they found it strange that I insisted on traveling by carriage, on the third night of camping out during the journey, Flashing Light Blood cautiously asked,
“May I ask you one thing, Vice Cult Leader?”
“Of course. Go ahead.”
As I sat by the campfire Cold Blade Blood had lit, smiling faintly, Flashing Light Blood asked,
“I apologize, but why do you not use lightness skill and instead travel by carriage…? At this rate, it will take at least ten days to reach Kunlun.”
“So you’re asking why I’m riding in a carriage when fast lightness skill is available.”
Realizing that I might have heard the voice transmission he had exchanged with Cold Blade Blood on the way to the Ghost Lotus Sect, Flashing Light Blood put on a guilty expression.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s a perfectly natural question. There’s no special meaning behind my choosing to use a carriage. I simply thought that, unless it’s a matter that requires racing against time, perhaps it’s fine to live slowly. That’s all.”
In my previous life, I had never been able to afford even a hint of leisure. The place I belonged to was a small sect, and it was not an environment that allowed for such luxury.
Whenever I saw disciples of large sects who always seemed to act with ease, I had envied them. Now that I myself had become a disciple of a great sect, I simply wanted to indulge in that leisure.
I didn’t want to end this life the same way as the last—living in constant haste, unable to properly look after even those right beside me, before dying.
Though he knew nothing of those true thoughts of mine, Flashing Light Blood nonetheless wore an expression as if he understood in his own way.
“Ah! Yes. Come to think of it, Vice Cult Leader, you really did live a very busy life. I think it’s fine for you to live slowly now.”
“That’s kind of you to say.”
As I smiled faintly, Flashing Light Blood looked at me with an awkward smile.
Of course, to his eyes, all he saw was a cold impression, a gaze filled with such sharp killing intent that it made his fine hairs stand on end just from meeting it, and a smile as thin as a hairline crack.
Even so, Flashing Light Blood knew well that this was me smiling. And he also knew that this was the first time he had seen me smile since the incident fifteen years ago.
Back then, the members of the Blood Sword Unit who had been present at the scene all kept their mouths shut about the matter, just like Flashing Light Blood. It was something that could not be spoken of, even if one knew.
As Flashing Light Blood was lost in memories of the past, my question was thrown his way.